I was reading through thread about best advices to new Pokemon collectors and came across this wonderful comment by @chok :
This got me thinking what was the starting point with slabs: after obtaining first original sets and many other singles it was time to enter world of PSA. My original goals were english crystals and japanese gold stars.
First purchase was this PSA 10 Aquapolis Kingdra which was listed for $99, submitted $80 offer for it and ultimately accepted seller’s whopping discount down to $95. Nicely placed swirl above snout as well, looks like a horn that’s growing in dangerous direction from Kingdra’s pov.
Now it’s time to hear your stories and see some pictures.
This gem of a card. Gonna grade a mcdonalds promo and a error rayquaza card next.
Pulled it in the back of a car at CVS and went crazy, then submitted it to CGC. The rest is history, and it’s one of my favorite graded cards in my collection.
My first slab was a PSA 1st edition base set Poliwag…I was blown away because I never knew grading cards was a thing as I had only collected raw and played the card game as a kid. I remember being so skeptical that it was legit that I was freaking out trying to research all these newly found slabs and if they were legit or not. I bought it for $25 bucks I believe and sold it a couple years after owning it…I have a saved search for 1st edition poliwags in the event that cert pops up. Would love to buy it back again for sentimental reasons.
My first graded card was a PSA 10 Greninja GX SV56 from Hidden Fates.
I was really into Smash at the time and mained Greninja, so I figured I wanted to get something along those lines. This was in October 2020, which coincided with the initial boom of popularity. This one purchase then spiraled into fully getting into cards again for the 1st time since I stopped collecting as a kid with the Team Rocket set. The rest is, as they say, history. I got into cards in general, then after a while refocused back on Greninja and made that my thing.
My first ever graded card. It was purchased purely out of necessity since I was not able to find the raw copy of this card at my desired price point. I ended up paying more in shipping and taxes to get this slab to me than the actual slab price itself. The card is free now and is very cosy in my binder.
My first was actually 2 both psa 7 1st ed Blastosie & Venusaur.
I had already got a NM charizard Raw and had no clue about graded cards but ended up being offered the psa 7s for less then raw copies that didnt look terrible.
I think it’s this one! Purchased from the amazing @rainbowgym
Before 2022 I didn’t care about graded cards, but they slowly and steadily grew on me. Although I remained a binder guy in the soul, this is still a really enjoyable side of the hobby which I’m happy to explore.
I love watching scans of graded cards, and surely every purchase (since required budgeting and planning), felt like a memorable special experience in its own way
Lately I’ve stumbled upon multiple situations where buying PSA 8/9 and cracking it would’ve been cheaper option, every time something inside me tells not to do it and just wait for nm/mint single listing.
To be very honest, I also agree. I think I was very inexperienced with graded cards in general and it was really about just getting the card for my collection. I was hunting this card for a while and whenever one would pop up it would be at a ridiculous price. So the moment I got this card in hand, I just cracked it without much forethought.
Maybe now, I would wait for lower conditioned raw cards or just keep the graded card for future trades to lower condition (if I am desperate to buy the graded card).
I’m going to be honest I felt a PSA slab a few years ago right after the hype began felt disappointment in the quality of the slab got a cgc graded card that I forgot what it was and traded that away and then decided to stray away from slabs as much as possible
So if we are talking about first slab probably that cgc bulk slab
Now, this is funny. In like 1999, my parents took me to the store to get Pokemon cards. I remember seeing a small package that was wrapped with an image of a graded Charizard. I didn’t know what grading was but I wanted a Charizard. I thought that the package would have a Charizard in it so I convinced my parents to buy it for me. This is what it had. I held it all of these years LOL. My first “real” graded purchase was a PSA 10 First Edition Mewtwo.
Mine was a PSA 10 Fan club Eevee that I held onto for about 12 years. I sold it to help with me and the wifes wedding in 2023. Its also the only graded card Ive ever bought myself.
